Fire-box-door-operating mechanism



Patented ug. 18, 1925.

UNITED STATES l l:FRANK MATTHEWS, OF MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA.

FIRE-BOX-DOOR-OPERATING MECHANISM.

Application led June 27, 1924. Serial No. 722,878.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be itknown that l, FRANK MATTHEWS, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and residing at the city of Montreal, in the Province of Quebec, in the Dominion of Canada, have invented a new and useful Fire- Box-Door-@per-ating Mechanism, of which the following is the specification.

The invention relates to fire box door operating mechanism, as described in the present specification and shown in the accompanying drawings that form part of the same.

The invention consists essentially of the novel features of construction pointed out broadly and specilically in the claims for novelty following a description containing an explanation in detail of an acceptable form of the invention.

The objects of the invention are to facilitate the oper-ation of the door by the fireman while stoking the furnace; to avoid accidents due to the disruption or misplacement of gear parts, where the actuating member is lapart from the door structure; to eliminate the dangers incident to the mounting of the operating pedal on or in the deck of the locomotive cab and thereby make a unit of the door and actuating` mechanism; and generally to provide a durable and efficient lire box door at a reasonably low cost.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the complete door structure looking down on it.

Figure 2 is a detail of the operating mechanism.

Like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in the various iigures.

Referring to the drawings, the door here shown for the purpose of explaining t-his invention has the sliding sections 1 kand 2, which are here shown as having the slats 3 joined by the hinges 4 and secured at the post ends to the semi-discs 5 and 6 on the one side and the semi-discs 7 and 8 on the other side, said discs having guide flanges 9 and hubs 10 secured to the rotatable posts 11 and 12 by the set screws 13.

rlhe posts 11 and 12 are supported in the frame 14 and particularly in the upper door frame flange 15 vand in the hearing brackets 16 secured tothe lower door fra-me flange 17 said brackets 16 being held to the flange 17 through the lugs 18 b-y the bolts 19, the discs 6 and 8 operating on the horizontal bearing plates 2O of said bearings 16. The lugs 18 are secured to the vertical sections 21 of the bearing bracket 16 and these sections form bearings for the shaft 22. The posts 11 4and 12 extend through the bearing plates 20 and at their lower end carry the pinions 23 and 24, which coact with the segmental gears 25 and 26. The gears 25 and 26 project upwardly from the hubs 27 and 28 and the latter are fixedly mounted at the ends of the shaft 22 below the frame 14. The guides 29 and 30 from the sides of the frame 14 cooperate with the discs in guiding the door slats on said discs.

The weight 31 is adjustably mounted on the bar 32 and one end of this bar is ringed and iixedly mounted on the shaft 22' so that the effect of this weight is to keep the door sections to their closed position.

rilhe crank lever 33 is also lixedly mounted on the shaft 22 and projects therefrom and this crank lever is pivotally connected toone end of the offset rocker arm 34 by the link 35.

The rocker arm 34 iat its angle 36 is pivotally secured to one or other of the bearing brackets 16 by the pivot 37, and terminates at its outer end in the split sleeve 38, having the clamping lugs 39.

The foot lever 4() is formed with the vertical shaft 41, ladjustably secured in the split sleeve 38, and with the outwardly curved arm 42 terminating at its lower end in the slotted pedal support 43, in which the pedal 44 is held in the desired position by the pin 45, said pedal having -a plurality o pin holes 46 and the depressed foot plate 4 It will thus be seen that the foot operating mechanism forms part with the door structure and may well be classed as unitary therewith for in this construction the door, frame, weight and foot lever gear are all parts making up one machine and to operate, the stoker presses the pedal and this affects the foot lever which rocks the arm 34 Iand through the link 35 and crank lever 33 rota-tes the shaft 22, thereby lifting the weight 31 and operatingthe opening gears 23 and 25 and 24 and 26.

The release of the pressure on the pedal permits the weight to close the door by means of the rotation of the shaft 22 in the reverse direction.

The gear operated door has been described herein and also a roller door `formed of vertical hinged slats but it must be understood that t-here are features to this invention that are more generally applicable, such as the foot pedal and lever directly carried by the door structure and the advantage of this in many kinds of fire box doors Will be much appreciated by t-hose closely associated with locomotive construe tion and the operation thereof.

At the upper end of the post l2 the arcshaped rack 48 is iXedly secured to the upper door iiange 15 and the latch 49 is i'ixedly mounted on the upper end of said pest l2 and is adapted to be brought forward to engage the rack i8 to hold the fire door to its open position when desired.

The upper end of the post 1l is closed in by the cap 50.

The pedal is above and entirely free from the floor or deck of the cab or any other surface.

The pedal byits own mechanism operates a door Without the aid or use of steam, electricity, air, Water or any other known generating power.

The balance Weight is the only power herein shown used in closing the door.

What I claim is In lirebox door operating mechanism, a gear operated door and frame therefor having` shaft bearings depending therefrom, a gea-r shaft journalled in said bea-rings, a crank mounted on said shaft, a lever pivotally suspended from one of Said shaft bearings and having its long leg connected by a link to said cra-nk and a pedal and pedal bracket secured to the short leg of said lever and adapted on pressure to rock said lever and through said link operate said gear shaft to open said door.

Signed at Montreal, Canada this 15th day of October 1923.

FRANK MATTHEVS. 

